


I'm Drunk, I Love You

by jayho



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:47:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27723023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jayho/pseuds/jayho
Summary: “Something wrong, noona?”Is there something wrong? There shouldn’t be. I’m just having dinner with an old friend I haven’t seen in a long time. But there is something wrong and it’s the fact that this friend I haven’t seen in a while apparently turned into a /man/ within the past four months we hadn’t seen each other.
Relationships: Im Changkyun | I.M/Original Character(s), Im Changkyun | I.M/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	I'm Drunk, I Love You

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying not to follow a particular IRL timeline here, but just know that this iteration of Kyunnie is Fatal Love era. The reason I'm not following a timeline is because Wonho is gonna be in this fic (I'm OT7, okay? And what?) even though this is basically current Changkyun.
> 
> **Also - this is just my image of who Changkyun is and what he’s like. I know that I could be wrong. This is only my characterization of him and this is just fictional. :)

Noona, are you still up? 

My phone lights up my dark room as my eyes drift away from my computer screen over to the much smaller screen resting on my nightstand. I pause the drama I was in the middle of, and reach over to my nightstand, groaning as I grab my phone and read the message on the notification bar. Just as I was about to reply, another message pops up.

Sleeping already?

I watch as three dots reappear now on his end in our chat, so I quickly type in my reply before he can bombard me with more questions about my sleep status.

Still up, watching a drama. What’s up?

Expecting another short ping notification, I jump as my ringtone blares in my quiet apartment, sounding much louder than necessary in the dark. The name Changkyun is emblazoned in the middle of the screen. I hit the green button to accept the call.

"Hello, hello,” I say, my usual greeting to anyone on the phone. 

“Noona?” Changkyun’s voice comes through the receiver, deep and rich with lethargy.

I grimace, instantly noting the fatigue in his voice. “Are you at work? You sound exhausted.”

“Yeah,” he responds, a deep vocal fry very notable in his voice. “I’ve been working in the studio since four in the morning.”

I hiss, showing him that empathize with him. “Sounds rough,” I tell him aloud. 

“I’ll live. I’ve been doing it for the past few days now,” he explains as I hiss again. “Anyway, what are you doing up? Don’t you work tomorrow?”

“And why are you texting and calling me so late if you’re so concerned about my schedule tomorrow?” I ask playfully, a smile on my face, as I try to mess with him, make him feel bad. But I know it won’t. He’s generally unbothered. 

To prove my point, he replies, “I’m not concerned. Just curious.” 

“That’s the same thing,” I groan, reeling him into yet another playful argument. 

“No,” he replies pointedly and slowly, elongating the ‘o.’ He sounds more alert now that he knows what I'm doing. He takes the bait anyway because he's such a tenacious smart aleck. “Being concerned means that I genuinely care about you and your well-being, staying up late even if you work tomorrow. Being curious simply means that while I’m interested in your reason, I’m actually not emotionally invested.”

“Well, look who’s the English teacher now,” I quip as he lets out a low chuckle. I can just picture him rolling his eyes at me. I laugh with him as I continue. “Well, since you’re so curious, my school’s off tomorrow. Public holiday. Did you forget?”

Changkyun stays quiet, as if he’s thinking about which holiday it was and whether it was important to note. For him, probably not. With his schedule, he hardly has any holidays off anyway. 

Then suddenly, he says, “Then do you wanna grab a bite to eat since you don’t have to work? I’m kind of stuck with this one song for the album, and I think I just need to take a break.” 

I ponder it. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him physically. With the tours and comebacks and my own personal schedule getting in the way, it was impossible to meet up.

I must’ve been thinking a while because he interrupted my calculations with a drowsy, “Noona, you still there?”

“Oh, yeah, hi,” I acknowledge him, snapping back into the present. “Yeah, let’s meet up. I’ve got nothing better to do anyway. Plus I haven’t seen you in so long!” 

“You missed me,” he laughs in amusement, his voice so low, the vibrations from the sound tickle my ear as it leaves my phone’s receiver. 

“Shut up,” I quickly say before adding in, “Let’s meet at our usual spot.” 

“Ne, see you there,” he agrees before we both hang up. 

\----

Our usual spot is a small, cozy restaurant tuckered somewhere in Hapjeong, in western Seoul. While it’s just two subway stops from my apartment, it’s a cross-city trek for Changkyun from his dorm, his studio, and his company’s building. Honestly, I feel a little guilty that he’s on his way via taxi in the middle of the night, but I justify that it was his idea in the first place. Plus, it gave me time to think about when the last time I saw him really was, on the subway ride over.

Must’ve been before his most recent world tour with Monsta X, I concluded while riding the train. That was about four months ago, a realization that left me feeling sad and reminded me of how much I missed him during that time. It’s probably why I’m so excited to see him now. 

But don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I like him or anything. No way. Hell no. It’s not like that. I couldn’t see Changkyun in that way. Not. At. All. He’s definitely like a little brother to me, especially with him being five years younger than me. 

We initially met because he’d been classmates with my younger brother, Josh back in Boston. When we were younger, the three of us would play together when Dany (as we called him back then) was allowed to come over and play. But when his family moved back to Korea, he and Josh stayed in touch with each other and kept their friendship going. So when I decided to study abroad in Seoul in college, Josh suggested I contact Dany and reconnect with him when I had the time. 

“Just don’t end up dating him or falling for him,” Josh warned, which I brushed off as a throwaway comment. 

Date Dany? Fall for him? I’d done a good job of not doing that that semester, and for the additional three years I’ve been living here. I’ve never even developed any feelings for him for as long as I’ve known him, romantic or sexual. 

Well...okay. Maybe that one time. The first time he called me “noona.”

It was a month into my study abroad program, and we finally had time to hang out and catch up. We’d met for dinner one night, in which he insisted I stopped calling him “Dany.” He preferred that I call him by his Korean name and also suggested we use Korean honorifics.

“Aren’t you studying Korean while you’re here, though?” he jested, which should’ve been my first sign of his hidden mischief. “You should do it to really immerse yourself in the language and get more practice! Come on...noona.” 

Something about the way he’d said it. 

Noona. 

The depth of his voice, which I was not used to. The playfulness peppered into his tone. The twitch of both his eyebrows and the corner of his mouth after he’d said it, like he got some kind of satisfaction from it. It was definitely less language immersion and more...flirtation. 

Ugh, no. It’s Changkyun, I quickly remind myself, snapping myself out of that flashback I have while waiting for him at the restaurant. I pick up the menu in front of me, eager for something to do to get my mind of thinking of Changkyun like that. I focus on the same spot in the menu as I try to, as Jooheon would say, “erase my brain.” But it’s unsuccessful because I hear it again.

“Noona!” 

This time, the voice is too clear to sound like a memory. I look upward, looking for the source of the voice. As my blurred vision clears, I find Changkyun looking down at me, standing behind my chair. 

“Miss me?” he asks, an eyebrow raised as he smiles down at me.

“Ah! Kamjagiya! You scared me, you jerk!” I leer at him, which only makes him chuckle as he gives me a quick hug. Then, he lets go of me to head to the opposite side of the table to sit, not a care in the world that he almost gave me a heart attack, but still laughing.

“I’m sorry, but it was just so easy! You looked so concentrated,” he continues to chuckle as I give him an indignant look. He quickly takes note of the look on my face and coughs out the last of his chuckles before saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. What were you so deep in thought of anyway?” 

I reflect on my earlier thoughts, feeling the warmth rise from my neck to my cheeks, before shaking my head, erasing that thought once more. “Nothing,” I lie to throw him off. “Just a little hungry, so thanks for keeping me waiting.”

He pouts apologetically as I wave him off, telling him it’s all right. Then, he says, “You didn’t order yet, noona?”

There it is again. Noona. The two-syllable word that causes the heat to rise to my cheeks. Thank God the mood lighting is hiding any sight of blushing on my face.

Reeee-lax, girl, I internally berate myself. He didn’t even say it in a flirtatious way. Why are you reacting this way?

“Noona?” he repeats as I whip my head up from the menu I was blankly staring at to look at him again. He scrunches his eyebrows at me, confused by my behavior, before he slowly restates, “Did you order?”

I shake my head and reply, “Oh, no. I was waiting for you, actually.” 

“Aww, that’s so sweet of you,” he teases, placing his hand on his heart and tilting his head to the side. I scrunch my face, showing him that I don’t appreciate his teasing. He just smiles as he asks, “Ready to order?” 

I nod my head to answer as he quickly waves down a server to take our order. After the server leaves with our orders, Changkyun turns his attention back to me. He opens his mouth to say something, but is quickly interrupted by a notification from his phone.

“Is it okay to answer this text real quick?” he asks, always so considerate, even though he likes to torture me.I say it’s okay so he turns his attention to his phone while I take the moment to finally get a really good look at him after four months. 

He’s got on his signature bucket hat, that one necklace he’s been wearing a lot lately (as seen on Twitter), and a black muscle tee, something I’m not used to seeing him in, show off his - insert audible gasp here - arm muscles!

“What?” he asks as soon as the gasp escapes my lips, his phone back on the table indicating he’s done texting. When all I do is sheepishly smile at him, his expression turns stoic, getting impatient. “Noona, what?”

“YOUR ARMS,” I screech a bit too loudly after a while, as our neighboring diners throw uneasy glances at us. We ignore them, at least I do because I’m a bit too concerned with the sight in front of me. Quieter, but just as exasperated, I say, “You got arms!”

“Yes, noona, I have arms,” he deadpans, eyes serious. 

Smartass, I think to myself as I sneer at him. 

“I know you have arms, you jerk. But like...” I begin to trail off at a loss for words. I start gesturing wildly before finally throwing my arms in his direction, pointing to his arms. “You got ARMS!"

“It’s called building muscle, noona. You should know this. Your last boyfriend was a bodybuilder. Why are you so shocked?” he asks, trying to remain as impassive as possible. 

“Because this is a new development!” I exaggerate, entirely contradicting his whole demeanor. 

“Noona, stop,” he groans, pretending to be embarrassed even though we both know he’s not even remotely embarrassed. Still, he plays along by shielding his face from the glares no longer being casted on him. “You’re making me uncomfortable.”

“Shut up,” I say to him, reaching over to slap his other arm resting on the table. “You love the attention and you know it.”

He smirks and goes, “Only when it comes from you.” 

I narrow my eyes at him, so unsure if he’s being serious or if he’s just fucking with me. He knows it makes me uncomfortable when he jokingly flirts with me, which is why he does it all the time. I should be used to it by now, but this is different. This is...confusing. 

In an attempt to shove this through right out of my head, I change the subject. 

“Hey, how’s the album going? You said you were having trouble with one of your songs?” 

His expression changes as he shrugs his right shoulder. He takes off his bucket hat as he begins to explain the concept of the group’s next album and what his song is about. Somewhere in the middle of the explanation, he lifts a hand to brush back the shaggy hair that’s fallen into his eyes. I nod my head here and there to show that I am invested in this topic even though I find myself lost in the view in front of me. 

It’s like seeing an entirely different person. I didn’t notice it earlier but as I’m watching him now, I notice that his round babyface is long gone. Since when did his cheekbones become more pronounced? His shoulders weren’t this broad, were they? And when did his hair get so long? Also, is he really flexing his arm while he’s pushing hair away from his eyes? What’s going on here? Does he know what he’s doing? What the hell is he doing?!

For a second, I forget where I am and who I’m with. So much so that a low, “Oh no” escapes from my lips without even thinking twice about it. When I realize what just happened, I stay frozen in my seat, arms pressed tightly against my sides as I sit on my hands. 

Shit, I wonder if he heard me, I wonder to myself. As if he really did, Changkyun stops mid-sentence, tilting his head to the side, looking at me, eyebrows furrowed.

“Something wrong, noona?” he asks, leaning forward to examine me further. I draw in some air between my lips, carefully considering my answer to this question. 

Pull it together, girl. It’s just Changkyun, I remind myself as I nod my head in affirmation, which makes him think something is wrong. 

I must’ve taken too long to reply verbally because he pouts and goes, “You okay? You’ve been a little weird all night.”

I let out a nervous chuckle before replying. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just...was thinking of something else.” 

“Still thinking about my arms?” he teases, a devilish grin slowly spreading across his face once again. 

“Shut up,” I say indignantly, feeling my entire head burn up. Honestly, is it hot in here? 

He lifts an eyebrow pointedly, like he gets the gist of what’s going on. 

“Ahh...so you were thinking about me. You were so distracted by my arms that you didn’t hear anything I just said.”

“Oh my god, shut up. I didn’t say any of that,” I defend myself.

“You didn’t say it, but you’re thinking it,” he presses on as he lifts an eyebrow, tauntingly. I forgot how annoying this kid can be. To prove this point further, he says, “It’s okay, noona. You don’t have to be embarrassed about it. You can think about my arms all you want. I don’t mind. I think about being in yours all the time.” 

Is this boy serious? Blatantly flirting with me like that? Where did he learn this shit from? I’ve seen him flirt before and it’s never been this smooth. The best I’ve seen was him eyeing someone up and down, checking out all of her assets, and then saying, “How you doin’, little mama? What’s good?” 

Also, what the hell? I think...it’s actually working on me? Judging by how warm my entire face nwo is, as well as how much tighter the knot in my stomach got, this line has indeed worked on. 

Trying not to sound so flustered but failing completely, I weakly ask, “Wh-what did you just say?” 

I watch him carefully, waiting for his reply. After what seems like an eternity, Changkyun’s face breaks and he starts cackling, clearly enjoying my reaction a little too much.

“Noona, oh my god. Your face is too priceless!” he hollers, which makes me narrow my eyes at him.

“I hate you,” I tell him, my voice flat, annoyed. He shrugs it off my standard reaction to his teasing. 

“You have to admit, I had you going for a minute,” he continues to laugh while I keep my narrow eyes steady on him.

“Yah, Daniel Im…” I say in a low, very threatening voice I’ve used with him quite often enough that he recognizes as my ‘angry teacher voice.’

“Yikes, you English-named me. Am I in trouble?” he asks, just as the server returns to our table. 

I wait until he places our dishes in front of each of us and asks if we need anything else, to say anything. 

As the server leaves, Changkyun continues with his fuckboy tirade. “So...you gonna punish me or what?” He raises his eyebrows suggestively, a cocky smile spread across his lips. 

It’s taking me all I have not to reach over and smack that smug look off his face. But why am I so mad? Because he’s teasing me by fake flirting with me? Or because I actually like it?  
No, I sternly shout to myself in my head. You went three years without feeling anything for him. Don’t let some stupid arm muscles and an entire change in appearance sway you. 

I take a deep breath to calm myself down of all these new emotions, before I tell him, “Too far, Changkyun. You better quit.” 

He raises both hands up to surrender. “Mianhae, noona, mianhae. I’m sorry. I’ll stop.”

“Thanks,” I tell him, as we both start on our meal, the topic of our conversation graciously back on Monsta X’s upcoming album and promotions.

Changkyun goes back to discussing the new album, but somehow trails off course and begins to describe their new concept, something I’m sure he’s not supposed to talk about. Not like I can say anything. I can’t. I’m not even listening. I’m thinking about the question Changkyun had asked earlier.

“Something wrong, noona?”

Is there something wrong? There shouldn’t be. I’m just having dinner with an old friend I haven’t seen in a long time. But there is something wrong and it’s the fact that this friend I haven’t seen in a while apparently turned into a man within the past four months we hadn’t seen each other. 

And it’s frustrating.

Shit...

**Author's Note:**

> \- Title based off a Filipino movie  
> \- This is my first multi-chapter fic I've written in a long time  
> \- This is the first fic I've written in a long time. Sorry if I'm rusty!


End file.
